The laser die cutting machine burns away a small part of die board when cutting through. The gap caused by the burning is called as the laser kerf. Laser die kerf width has a range from 0.45mm-1.42mm depending on what materials you are using and some conditional factors. 0.45mm is normally a kerf on the PVC or plastic dies, such as label dies.  The laser die cutting machine will burn the cut line in your design completely because of the heat of the laser beam. The carbonized layers on the kerf is likely very fragile and in some cases can cause the material to warp whilst cutting. Normally for plywood dies, the thickness of the materials is 18mm, and the kerf width is 0.71mm. We will advise if your drawing has cutting tolerances that are too small, but we can’t be held responsible if your components do not hold together sufficiently.

Materials quality, types and thickness will decide the kerf on laser die cutting machine, but other factors also have an impact on the laser die cutting. The focal length of the lens, the air pressure etc also will affect the die cutting.

Kerf widths can vary even on the same material sheet, whether cutting a straight line or a curve line or from laser die cutting machine in the x or Y dimension. The manufacturing tolerance of the material can also impact the kerf.